Humpday Happenings...

If you liked the weather yesterday (most anywhere in the Midwest) then you'll like today as well.
Pretty much a repeat performance, with temps back into the mid 80s, and maybe a few clouds tossed in the mix.
So, enjoy the day...anywhere but in the ghettohood...lol.
*** First up, YESTERDAY'S post drew an AMAZING 800+ page views (that's a record for me), so whoever you ALL were, thank you VERY much for stumbling in here and looking around.
Drop by any time.
*** Now, on to our military quote of the week aka WHO SAID THAT?
" We will have to say that in any case the decisive role does not belong to technology - behind technology there is always a living person without whom the technology is dead."
So...who said that? The answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back at the USB port...
*** Speaking of technology, TODAY is the day Apple Corporation rolls out it's latest chunk of fancy-schmancy hardware...the (obsolete by this time NEXT year) iPhone 5.

((...rolls eyes...))
Guess the first FOUR weren't good enough?
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120912/BIZ07/309129942/1031/BIZ
Some are saying this can actually GROW the U.S. economy...as in raising the GDP up to a whopping 0.5 percent.
Talk about putting all your iphones in one basket, hmm?

I look at it as a "flash in the pan" (that's an old reference to flintlock muzzle loaders from the Revolutionary War days), and would, if anything, temporarily boost the economy slightly...until the bloom goes off the rose, which given the amount of tech that's shoved at us THESE days, could be a mere several months...then we slip right back into the same old lousy economy.

Hell, I still don't own a cell phone, so why would I bother with this iPhone...that I have to "buy" ALL these APPS for if I want the damn thing to do what I want it to do?
Wouldn't that be like purchasing a bare-bones CAR...and then having to buy all the other PARTS that make the damn thing RUN?
(It's got an engine, but I have to BUY the distributor...and the rotor...and the spark plugs...and the fan belt...well, you get the idea)

If anything, I view things like this as diversionary in nature...meant to distract us from being more than we should be.
Sure, we can always seem to "do more" (with the tech), but to BE more (as a person) should be a might higher up on our priorities scale, don'cha think?
That alone should explain some of society's problems from the jump.
But, I suppose we just "have to have it"...because someone else SAYS we have to...so much for individual thinking, hmm?
*** And we wonder why the FWPD has rank and file morale problems...well, wonder no longer.

Here's an interesting tale of higher education, intoxication, public safety AND perception:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/official-arrested-charge-later-dropped-dbl
An IPFW associate professor, one Dr. Quinton H. Dixie, is at the center of this shubbery maze.
Here is his faculty homepage:
http://new.ipfw.edu/departments/coas/depts/philosophy/about/homepages/dixie.html

Now, I kinda like the fact that he is into philosophy...and religious studies.
I really admire those subjects.
But, what I find curious is how this professor winds up arguing with an officer in a street while half shot-in-the-ass (alcoholoically-speaking), and when the officer arrested him after the argument outside the American legion Post at Hanna and Lewis streets, all Dr. Dixie had to do was "drop" the name of the FWPD chief (Rusty York), and PRESTO...he's cut loose and charges seem to be dropped.
Damn, that's just A-F$cking-Mazing, isn't it?
Apparently Dixie intervened when the officer was writing a ticket for another individual, and that is what precipitated his OWN arrest (that would likely be obstruction of the officer's duty, and perhaps public intox and failure to comply).

So, now YOU too can drop Rusty's name and get off...if you're BLACK...AND on the Board of Public Safety (which Chief York always has a list of officers who undergo scrutiny for such minor infractions like being late by a few minutes)...AND an IPFW professor...AND a co-chair of the Legacy Fort Wayne task force ( which the 15 member board is trying to figure out how best to SPEND the light-legacy millions the city acquired).
Here's the link to last year's story about this:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110213/LOCAL/302139922

Now, forgive me for bringing up this whole "holding oneself to higher standards when in the PUBLIC eye" thing, but with such credentials, should you NOT be making a drunken fool of yourself in front of the po-po?
I'm just asking...
The prosecutor's office will most certainly look the other way as well (they already dropped the charge this past Monday), but it is under "review"...whatever the hell THAT is supposed to infer....that's the way we do things whenever a minority is involved, it seems.
But, what about the Paul Moss and Sheriff Fries flap a while back?
Why did THAT get such notoriety, because there was no PROOF that Moss was impaired (even though he refused the breathalyzer test and was still held on scene for over 40 minutes), at least NOT to the degree that Dixie was (according to the arresting officer). Bet if Moss were BLACK, it'd be swept under some rug downtown a LOT faster.

And this is the problem with much of this city...the "hands-off" approach to law-enforcement...even when a viable arrest with probable cause had been made.
(It would only be for a misdemeanor anyway...no felony involved)
But, time and again, race always seems to rear it's ugly head, doing an end-around the laws and the enforcement OF those laws.
Hell, I'd be surprised of the arresting officer doesn't draw some type of "reprimand"...like, how DARE he bother a black official that was supported by "King Henry"...right?
If it's not affirmative action supplanting people who are MOST QUALIFIED for public safety jobs (as well as other city positions), it's things like THIS that should be questioned.

I mean, you're a PROFESSOR for God's sake...and a teacher of RELIGIOUS STUDIES...doesn't that include a modicum of personal accountability when it comes to alcohol consumption in PUBLIC?
Well, one of the areas of interest of Dr. Dixie is "Hip-Hop and Spirituality"...
((...blink, blink...))
Huh???
Didn't know THOSE two aspects of human behavior were joined at the hip (hop), did YOU?
I just feel that if you start to open a can of worms, the LEAST you can is finish whatnyou started, remove the lid and see what the hell you've got on your hands...that's all.
*** Lastly today, we've so much "double-standardism" in this city and nation these days, it's enough to make you upchuck in your shorts.

That is hardly any basis for what this nation has been known for, especially on 9/12/2001...and that would be UNITY.
You simply cannot be UNITED when you allow double standards to fragment the people.
Today, the only time we DO seem to be united is when we ALL bop down to the APPLE store for that damn new iPhone...
We are UNITED in wanting to be "entertained"...
We are UNITED when it comes to sitting back and allowing "the other guy" to do the driving.
We are UNITED when it comes to being uninformed enough to not know this nation might be headed to hell in a hand basket.

We are basing our decisions solely on the "wow" factor...instead of FACTS.
Somehow, if this were in antiquity, I don't think the Apostles would be running out to get the newest model of chariot (the one with the cup-holder).
Granted THEY were exposed to some serious WOW factor when they saw Jesus rise from the dead...or walk on water...or feed the masses, but then again, that "wow" had it's roots in FACT...they SAW it...they EXPERIENCED it first-hand.
How can you argue with that?
These days, technologies supplant common sense, and carry us from one thing to another, seemingly without time to catch a breath.

Shouldn't we be more concerned with uniting to find SOLUTIONS to our ever-growing problems instead?

Is that new iPhone going to to put meat on your table...or gas in your tank...or a roof over your head?

(probably not, although some will argue that there IS an APP for that now)

WE have to become the solution, because most assuredly, we are ALSO much of the problem...and if that's not a valid cause for becoming united again and tossing double-standards in the trash, I don't know what is.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.